Population Myths
Before the meeting
Articles
(Read two or more)
The world is not in danger of being overpopulated, so why do so many insist it is? Overpopulation is relative to the ability of an economy to provide a decent standard of living, adequate nutrition, and minimize the impact on the environment.
Many countries around the world are falling below the replacement fertility rate to sustain their workforce and populations. This article evaluates the effect this will have on economies and culture.
Trends in Marriage effect fertility. As the average age of first marriage rises and the amount of child bearing years spent married falls, birth rates will continue to remain low.
Communities around the globe consume resources and create waste at different rates. Solutions for environmental limitations could be found in technical innovation, educating people on decreasing resource consumption, and sustaining fertility rates.
China has now lifted it’s one-child policy, but is it too late to stop the economic disaster train that the policy started? Families are now being urged to have at least two children, but it may be too late to convince parents to embrace the change.
This article discusses the factors that have led to the drop in fertility rates globally, and possible implications.
Videos
(Watch one or more)
Population Research Institute
Where did the overpopulation myth begin?
See Supplemental Materials for the rest of this 7 part Series.
In a Nutshell
Overpopulation- The Human Explosion Explained
In a very short amount of time the human population exploded and is still growing very fast. Will this lead to the end of our civilization?
Population Control Isn’t the Answer to Climate Change, Capitalism is.
Overview of how science, food production, and other strategies are the answer to supporting our future population economic growth.
In Italy, Rising Anxiety Over Falling Birth Rates
Italy’s dropping fertility rates could drag the country into an unprecedented economic crisis.
What it was like to grow up under China’s One-Child Policy
Dark and tragic experiences of the one-child policy, and how government propaganda can impact our own perceptions and actions.
Supplemental Reading
The world we live in now, despite approaching a population of nearly 8 billion, looks almost nothing like the one doomsayerswere anticipating. Earth’s population trends, explained.
Explore how fertility rates have changed globally.
Think the world is overcrowded? These 10 maps show why you’re wrong
Fifty percent of the world’s population lives on one percent of its land. View a series of maps showing how the world’s population is distributed.
Supplemental videos
2) What does it take to replace yourself?
3) Are people hungry because there’s not enough food on planet earth, or is the answer more complex?
4) Why poverty isn’t caused by “over population?”
5) Seven billion people: Will everyone please relax.
Weltarchiv4
This documentary examines the decline of the world population, especially in the West. Explains the challenges of population in an easy-to-understand way.
Weltarchiv4
This documentary examines the decline of the world population, especially in the West. Explains the challenges of population in an easy-to-understand way.
ReasonTV
An interview with documentary creator Nanfu Wang, about the impacts and hard truths about China’s one child policy
BOOK
by Phillip Longman
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The Empty Cradle changes the terms of one of the most environmental, economic and social debates of our day.
